Cirque de Exorcist
by Tsukikami Moyizawa
Summary: All of the DGM characters are now members of an acrobatics troupe! Allen's a new member, and is quickly made enimies with Kanda. YEAH!
1. The beginning of the end of normalcy

People stopped to stare at the curious white-haired boy with the weird scar on his left eye. He threw the balls high up into the air, and then easily caught them. He did this, three at a time, occasionally doing a trick. Juggling was his specialty. He finished off that routine by throwing them all into the air simultaneously, twirling the hat off his head, and neatly catching them in said hat. He tipped it upside down and dropped the balls into a bucket off to the side, then set the hat on the sidewalk in front of him and bowed. His next routine was a gymnastics one. Cartwheels, backflips, front walkovers, handstands, and splits for the finale. He bowed gracefully to the offered applause. The crowd dispersed, and he went about busying himself with cleaning up after his act. He straightened up, and jumped when he turned to find a man standing behind him. He was a short man, with huge glasses and curly hair. "Hello! My name is Johnny Gill! Nice to meet you!" he grinned, taking hold of the boy's hand and pumping it enthusiastically. "To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?"

The boy smiled, and bowed slightly. "Allen Walker, at your service, sir."

"That's fantastic! Well, Mr. Walker—can I call you Allen?—I'm part of the management for this acrobatics troupe, and we've been searching for some talent. Would you consider meeting with our executives for an audition?"

Allen scratched the back of his neck. "Well, yeah, I mean, I guess so."

Johnny's face lit up and he practically hugged the boy from joy. "That's fantastic! Here, take this." He rummaged around in his coat pockets, of which there were many, and handed Allen a sheet of paper. "Hope to see you there!" With that, the short little man was gone.

That was how Allen Walker found himself standing outside a huge gymnasium the next week. He looked down at the paper he carried. _3:15PM on Saturday, March 12._ He was here on time. The address was correct. Good.

He tentatively knocked on the glass door. Promptly a tall man with glasses and brown hair opened the door. "Hi. I'm Russell. Are you the young kid here for the audition?" he asked, smiling. Allen nodded. "That's me. Some guy, Johnny Gill I think, told me to come here." Russell walked him down the hall. "Yeah, Johnny told us all about you. Here's the gym," he stopped at a huge metal double door. "Now, some of our members are currently practicing in here, so you will have an audience. I hope you're okay with that." Allen nodded, and Russell pushed the door open.

Allen's eyes widened, astonished. The first thing he saw was a woman hanging from the rafters of the ceiling by her knees. The next thing was a young girl with long pigtails doing flips on a trampoline. A big man practicing a routine on the high bars. Then, out of nowhere, an older teenager with spikey red hair held back by a headband fell onto the mat Allen was standing on. He landed on his back, knocking the wind out of himself. He stood up, wheezing, and put a hand on Allen's shoulder to steady himself. He looked up at him and grinned. "Hey! My name's Lavi. You must be the kid here for the audition that Johnny's been going on and on about." He shook his hand. "You ready for your audition? 'Cause as soon as the execs get here they're going to want to start immediately."

"Hello everyone!"

Allen turned around to see a tall Asian man with shoulder-length black hair, glasses, and a beret perched on top of his head. He carried a clipboard. Lavi sighed. "Speak of the devil—"

"Kanda! Lavi wants you!" the big man he had seen earlier called out. Lavi threw his shoe at him.

The Asian man came over and pumped Allen's hand. "Nice to meet you! I'm Komui Lee! I'm the manager of this acrobatics troupe! Myself and some others will be observing your audition! Are you ready?"

Allen freed his hand and rubbed it against his thigh. "Uh, yeah, sure."

Komui clapped his hands. "Attention, everyone! We are going to hold an audition for a new member! Everybody on the bleachers! Reever! Miranda! You'll be helping me judge!"

All of the acrobats stopped their swinging and twirling and body contortions to walk over to settle into the bleachers. Komui looked over them with approval. "Good morning, Marie, Daisya, Lavi, my dear Lenalee, and—anybody seen Kanda?"

One man, looking strange with two black triangles shooting down from below his eyes, waved a hand in the air. "I drove him here, but I haven't seen him since."

Komui sighed. "Well, he'd be a party pooper anyway. Let's get started, shall we?" He looked at Allen, who now stood in the middle of the gym, all alone, in front of a huge audience. He pushed his glasses up onto his nose. "Name?"

"Uh, Allen Walker."

"Good morning, Allen Walker. Age?"

"Erm, 15."

Komui made a note on his clipboard. "Rather young," he muttered to himself. "Alright then. What are your specialties?"

"Juggling and floor routines, mostly."

Komui signaled someone in the bleachers, and they threw three red balls at Allen. He caught them. "Show us what you can do, Allen Walker, age 15."

Allen bowed and proceeded into the same routine he had done the past week when Johnny had found him. The balls flew into the air, and still he caught them neatly and ended by throwing them each in turn back to the man in the bleachers. Everyone clapped. Komui scribbled madly on his clipboard, and a sandy-haired man, who must have been Reever, and a dark-haired woman, who must have been Miranda, whispered furiously to each other. Komui cleared his throat, and told Allen to go ahead with his floor routine. Allen did so. His heartbeat accelerated, because, in truth, he got terrified every time he did something like this. He was so nervous. He hoped this paid well, if he got in. He had debts to pay.

When he was done, and after the applause had ceased, the three judges conversed among themselves for a good fifteen minutes. After that, Komui stood and turned to the acrobats in the bleachers. "Who wants Allen Walker to join our troupe?"

Insane screaming and applause ensued. Komui shushed them and turned back to Allen. "Allen Walker, age 15! Welcome to the Black Order traveling acrobatics troupe!"

The people in the bleachers flooded down to congratulate him. Just as Allen was starting to get tired of shaking so many hands, someone shouted one syllable that instantly shut the entire group up.

"OI!" Everyone turned to look as a tall Japanese teenager with an irritated countenance shouldered his way through the crowd to stand in front of the white-haired boy. "What the hell is going on? And who the crap are you, kid?" The big man from earlier put a hand on his shoulder. "That's Allen Walker. He's a new member." The teen shrugged him off. "Like hell. In order to be a member of this place you have to have _talent_." The girl with the pigtails asked, "Have you actually seen him—" "I don't need to. He's short. Like a bean sprout. He'll never make it."

Allen crossed his arms. "I'll have you know that I'm actually pretty skilled."

The Japanese man slapped a hand to his forehead and closed his eyes. "He's British, too. That just makes it _better."_

Allen huffed. "And to whom do I owe the pleasure of speaking?"

The other man uncrossed his arms and glared at him. Allen nervously noticed how well-muscled said arms were. "Name's Kanda."

"Don't they have last names where you're from?"

"Kanda is my last name, moron."

"Don't they have first names where you're from?"

Kanda swung at him. He ducked and scrambled backwards. The big man pinned Kanda's arms behind his back and walked him out of the gym, clearly irritated. The girl with the pigtails came over to Allen and helped him up. "Sorry about that. Kanda's got a bad attitude. We only keep him here because we love him and our show would be sunk without his talent. That and he's really hot. Anyway, my name's Lenalee Lee. That crazy guy Komui is my brother. The guy who just went out to talk Kanda down is Noise Marie, the guy with the crazy makeup who just went out to inflame the situation is Daisya Barry, and I believe everyone else would like to introduce themselves to you."

The two judges came out. The sandy-haired man was Reever Wenham. The woman was Miranda Lotto. He had already met Lavi, whose full name no one wanted to reveal. A tall man with a streak of white hair was Arystar Krory. His blonde girlfriend was Eliade. A big Asian man with spikey black hair was Chaoji Han. A slim Chinese woman was Anita, and a muscular bald woman was Mahoja. A little boy with a big mouth said his name was Timothy Hearst, and a man who appeared to be his older brother or something was Tsukikami. One man had a weird bowl-shaped haircut with a blonde braid in the back, claiming to be Howard Link. A woman dressed all in blue with a dragon headpiece covering her face said her name was Hevlaska. A man with slicked back hair was Suman Dark.

Allen's head was spinning with all the names and faces. This troupe was HUGE. He was sure he'd get them all straight eventually….


	2. Lunchtime

"HEY EVERYONE!" Komui shouted into the gym. "It's lunchtime, and guess whose day it is to get lunch for all of you?"

The acrobats stopped what they were doing to look around at each other quizzically. Nobody had any idea whose day it was. Daisya raised his hand and jumped up and down. "I know! It's Kanda's!"

The group mumbled in agreement. Kanda jumped off the high bars and glared at Daisya, as if to say, "Thanks for reminding them." Lavi groaned. "The last time it was Kanda's day to get lunch we all got food poisoning from whatever weird Chinese place he got it from! I couldn't hold anything down for a week!" Kanda threw a shoe at him. "At least I actually feed you. Last time it was your day I seem to remember you being gone for five hours trying to pick up girls, and failing miserably. Then I had to come find you when you got lost!" Lenalee muttered, "We never did get lunch that day."

Kanda called across the gym, "Chaoji! You in the mood for Mexican?" The strong man nodded enthusiastically and gave Kanda the thumbs-up. Kanda threw on a sweatshirt and pulled his boots on as he headed for the door. Komui stopped him. "Wait!" He pointed at Allen. "Take the new kid with you. He needs to learn the ropes." "Yeah, but not these ropes," Kanda grumbled, looking pointedly at the rope hanging from the ceiling that Allen had failed to climb earlier that morning. Allen didn't look too happy about having to go anywhere with Kanda, but a look from Komui silenced his protests.

"Remember, Daisya can't have onions!" Marie shouted. Allen looked at Daisya inquiringly. He grinned. "Gives me gas."

"Yeah, and I have to live with him," Kanda growled.

Allen followed Kanda out into the parking lot, scanning over all the cars to try and guess which one was his. Kanda pulled a key ring out of the pocket of his sweatpants and twirled it around his finger. They reached a dark blue Dodge pickup truck, parked next to a little yellow Beetle. Allen half expected him to get into the Beetle. But no, Kanda unlocked the door of the truck and slid into the driver's seat. Allen went around to the passenger side and waited for him to unlock it. But Kanda took his sweet time adjusting all of his mirrors and settings. Finally he looked over at the boy outside, who was getting very put off, and leaned over to unlock the door. Allen climbed into the passenger seat, which was hard because the truck was so high off the ground and he was so short. He clicked his seatbelt into place and watched as Kanda carefully put the truck into reverse and drove out of the lot. "Hm," he commented. "You're not a bad driver."

Kanda glanced at him. "What are you talking about?"

Allen shrugged and looked out the window. "I just thought that all Asians were bad drivers."

Kanda hissed under his breath. "Here I was thinking you were at least smart enough not to pay attention to stupid stereotypes."

Allen looked over at him. "You thought I was smart? How sweet."

Kanda elbowed him in the chest, leaving him to wheeze for a while, not once taking his eyes off the road.

They pulled into the lot of some Mexican restaurant, called "Viva Los Tacos!" Kanda jumped out of the truck and pressed the button that locked it, and continued on into the restaurant, ignoring the boy pounding on the window shouting at him to let him out. Finally, he got irritated and turned around to unlock the door, glared at Allen as he got out, and locked the door again. Allen ran to catch up with the taller teenager. They entered the dimly lit establishment, and went directly to the counter. A fat man with a greasy apron came out to greet Kanda. "Hola, Kanda. ¿Cómo está usted hoy? El generalmente, estoy ¿el asumir de m?"

Kanda responded in perfect Spanish. "Estoy multa de m. Sí, el generalmente, pero este cabrito aquí pedirá para se."

The man looked at the white-haired boy as if noticing him for the first time. He leaned across the counter to talk to Kanda. "¿Qué se está encendiendo con su pelo, y su ojo? ¿Quién es él?" Kanda shrugged. "No sé. Él es un nuevo miembro de nuestra compañía." Allen looked at the two of them, really not understanding a word they were saying. He only spoke English and German. When the man looked at him again, he bowed slightly and said, "My name is Allen Walker."

"Well, hello, Allen Walker!" said the man in heavily accented English. "I like your, eh, hair," he said, motioning to his own head. Allen smiled and thanked him. "So Kanda says you'll order for yourself. What would you like to eat, chico?"

Allen considered the menu, and grinned at the man. "I'll take two burritos, three hard shell tacos, three soft shell tacos, a confetti quesadilla, and a chilupa."

The man stared at him, and Kanda glared at him incredulously. "You're going to break my wallet, kid!" he growled. Allen shrugged. "Ah, let the boy eat! He'll grow up big and strong, like Juan Luis!" chuckled the man. Allen assumed that his name was Juan Luis. "I'll be out with your order shortly, chico," he said to Kanda, ruffling his hair. He put his hair back into place quickly after Juan Luis was gone. "Don't call me chico!" he called after him.

Soon Juan Luis returned with three bags full of the delicious smell of Mexican food. "These two are for the troupe, and this one is for the chico," he said, smiling at him. Kanda rolled his eyes. Juan Luis called back into the kitchen. "Maria, ¡viene el anillo encima de estos clientes!" A young girl of about 8 came out of the kitchen and stood on a stool to get to the cash register. Juan Luis put a hand on her head and smiled broadly. "She's been practicing, just for you, Kanda."

The little girl, Maria, smiled up at Kanda. "Konichiwa, Kanda-san!" she said with the same heavy accent as Juan Luis. Kanda almost smiled. "Konichiwa, Maria-chan." Maria giggled and punched the numbers into the cash register. Kanda paid her, took the bags, and walked out.

Back in the truck, on the way back to the gym, Allen considered Kanda. "That little girl really seemed to like you, Kanda."

Kanda shrugged. "Whatever."

"It sounded like she was trying to talk to you in your native language."

"Native language? What are you smoking? Native language my ass. That sounds like I'm from some sentimental American Indian tribe. That was Japanese. I'm from Japan, so of course I speak it."

"Oh. Was it hard to learn English?"

Kanda shrugged again. "Not really. It's hard to explain to you native speakers how weird your language is."

Allen sighed. "I guess Japanese is a lot different from English."

"Tch. Just take your bag and get in the gym."

They walked into the cafeteria and were basically mobbed by all the hungry acrobats. Kanda distributed the food, and then took his own meal to sit at a table off to the side. Allen glanced over, then nudged Lavi. "Why does Kanda sit by himself? The people here seem to like him well enough." Lavi looked up briefly, and said, "He won't stay that way. Wait for it…3…2…1…" Allen watched as Daisya jumped out of nowhere and tackled Kanda from behind in a big-brotherly way. Kanda scowled and tried to get him off him. Marie appeared, set his food down across from Kanda, and went over and lifted Daisya off of Kanda and set him down on the chair next to him. The two engaged in an enthusiastic argument, and Marie just sat there laughing. Chaoji came to sit down next to Allen and Lavi. "As much as Kanda doesn't act like it, he's glad to have Daisya and Marie around. Usually he operates alone, but I guess even Kanda gets lonely sometimes," he said, smiling. Lavi looked at him quizzically. "Why aren't you over there?" Chaoji just laughed. "They were the original three. I just came in last summer. I don't want to intrude."

Allen looked from Chaoji to Lavi. "Eh, what?"

Lavi explained. "Daisya, Marie, Kanda, and Chaoji are adopted sons of Froi Tiedoll." Allen gasped. "THE Froi Tiedoll?" Lavi nodded. "He found Daisya and Marie in an orphanage in Europe, and took them in when he saw their abilities. He found Kanda threatening gangsters in an ally in Japan. And Chaoji here came to him last summer because, frankly, he had nowhere else to go."

"And you? What's your story, Lavi?" Allen questioned.

"I'm an American ginger living with his grandfather."

"Oh."


	3. Ginger

Lavi flew from rafter to rafter. He was as free as a bird, and as light as one too. Lenalee and Kanda thought he was crazy for doing stuff like this without a harness, but he didn't care. He was swinging around the roof of the gym like a chimpanzee, limbs all akimbo as he jumped around. He was very graceful, making barely any sound as he landed and took off again. The only sound he ever made when doing this was whooping with joy or a thud when he fell, and he fell pretty often. That's why Komui had almost the entire gym floor covered with pads, so he wouldn't break his neck every time. His grandfather thought he was mentally insane for doing this still. He had told him to stop, to quit the Cirque and find a different, safer, career. But Lavi healed just like the doctors told him he wouldn't, and he just jumped right back up on the rafters and continued, much as he always had.

He paused, crouching on top of one of the bars, looking down at the others doing floor routines under Lenalee's guidance. He had gotten there early so he had done them before anyone else, so he had a pass to do whatever he wanted until they were done. He started swinging around again, but soon enough lost his grip on the bar and tumbled down.

Allen had his breath knocked out of him when a redheaded body dropped down from above his head and landed on him. Lavi jumped up immediately and grinned at Allen, holding out a hand to help him up. "My bad, bro. Sorry."

Allen stumbled up, growling and rubbing his head. "Why do you do that when you know perfectly well that every time you will fall?" Lavi just laughed and shrugged. "I'll tell you someday, Sprout."

The white-haired boy grumbled, "Sprout is not my name."

Lavi chuckled again and slapped him on the back. "I know, I know, Allen. Sorry."

At lunchtime Daisya passed out the food and Lavi plunked down next to Allen. Allen sighed and asked, "Seriously, Lavi. Why do you climb the rafters every day, knowing every day that you are going to fall?"

Lavi smiled sideways. "To prove a point."

Allen looked at him, and Lavi could almost see the question forming on his tongue. "Three years ago I was in Paris with my granddad. I loved climbing things and swinging then, too. We went up to the Eiffel Tower, and a little ways up the stairs I noticed how much fun it would be to swing around on this bar that was sticking out. While Granddad wasn't looking I jumped out onto it. I did this whole high bar routine on it, Granddad screaming at me to come in, security guards screaming at me to come in, tourists snapping pictures, and tons of applause. I loved it. That is, until my hand slipped, just like it does every day in here, and I fell all the way onto the pavement below."

Allen gasped and stared at the redhead, shocked. Lavi noticed him staring and laughed dryly. "I broke four ribs, my back, my legs, and my arms. I had a serious concussion, bleeding on the brain, all that rot. I was in the hospital for a year, my granddad yelling at me to be more careful and less stupid that entire time. The doctor said I'd have permanent brain damage, and I'd never be able to walk again, much less do acrobatics. But after I got so sick of being in that hospital that I did a wheelie in my wheelchair down the parking garage ramp, I decided that yes, I would walk again.

"I still had brain damage, but I became a savant because of it. I have a photographic memory, and I never forget anything. Most savants are socially awkward, but not me. Since I had enough time before the accident to develop my social skills, I was fine. I can sort through and record entire books of information in a matter of seconds. I went in a contest with that British dude to see who could recite more digits of pi, and only lost by 10 digits.

"So I stood up, and even though all the nurses and doctors told me I was crazy, I started walking around. Soon enough I was running and then back on the high bar. That's why I swing from the rafters every day, so I can prove that I'm not scared and that I can do anything I want to do."

Allen clapped slowly, gaping. "Wow. That's bloody inspiring, Lavi. Does that have anything to do with your eyepatch?"

Lavi laughed. "Not a damn thing, Brit."

Lavi stood and laughed as he tried to coach Allen in the fine art of the high bars. Up until this point Allen had mostly stuck to juggling and the floor, but he couldn't get away with that forever. To strengthen up, Komui had finally put his foot down and made him get coached in all of the other basic exercises. Miranda instructed him in the balance beam, Marie in the tightrope, Lenalee on vault, and Daisya on contortionism. And now Lavi on high bars. Kanda, of course, refused to teach him anything, especially not wire flight, which was his niche. Allen fell off of almost everything. He had a long ways to go before he could get a place in any show. So Lavi tried to show him how to jump from the high bar to the low bar and back again, but when he did it, he still slipped and fell on his butt. While Allen stood, rubbing his tender backside, Lavi was literally rolling on the floor, cracking up. "Why do I keep losing my grip on these things?" Allen growled angrily, staring at his hands and the bar. Lavi stood up and wiped a tear from his eye. "Hey, Brit," he called to him. Allen turned on him, glowering, and when he did Lavi threw the chalk at him. He caught it and scrutinized it for a moment. Lavi was incredulous. "Please tell me you know what that stuff is."

Allen looked up at him, slightly irritated. "Obviously not."

Lavi went over to him and took the chalk out of his hands. "You rub this stuff on your hands to create more friction so you don't slip off so easily. And the cloth wrappings don't hurt either."

Allen snatched up the chalk and the wraps that Lavi offered him and quickly went to work on his hands. Lavi dusted his own palms while Allen jumped back on the bar and began to do the simple routine Lavi had taught him earlier. Then he fell off again, though he had stayed on a little longer this time. He huffed, threw his hands up in the air, saying "I give up!" and stormed off to the cafeteria. Lavi rolled his eye. "No you don't. Not if I have anything to do with it."


End file.
